My mom's cousin Kary came to live with us! He's in his early twenties and a Marine. He's also really short, like not much taller than five feet. Don't be deceived by appearances though: Kary may be little but he's tough, he may have a name like Kary, but he's as macho as they come. He's also a lot of fun. He chews Skoal and swaggers around and cusses when he wants to and tells funny stories and clearly doesn't think Dennis is the last word. Mike and I think Kary's the greatest, and the next best thing to an older brother.

Dennis also has two married daughters, Michelle and Renee. They're both pretty typical blond California girls who place a lot of emphasis on clothing, wear lots of makeup, act superficial and loose, and pretend that they're even dumber than they actually are. Michelle's husband Sam seems decent. He's a big, muscular, laid back guy, with a Golden Retriever personality. It's Michelle I can't stand. She's sharp tongued and arbitrarily vicious based on her opinions, which of course are founded on her skinny little brains or the air cells in between.

Renee is another story. She's sort of a broken person. When she was a couple years younger (she's 16 at this time) she and her boyfriend (also named Matt) were driving somewhere Dennis had ordered them not to go. They got hit by a drunk driver, she was horribly injured, and her boyfriend, who was really a good guy according to all accounts (even Dennis) died. She hasn't ever gotten over it, because he was the one she was supposed to marry, the one God had picked out for her, and now she'll never have the right husband, no matter what she does. Renee seems selfish, overly exuberant, and flirtatious with any male in sight, but underlying all this is a deep sadness. Her gaiety is so loud because it's insincere and forced. Her husband, Joe, is a jerk and he leaves bruises on her face. Dennis hates him, but has the firm opinion that God punished her by taking Matt away because she disobeyed her father.